Typically, when in a vehicle traveling to and from work or if talking on a cellular telephone, errands, appointments, telephone calls, or other chores which require future activity are brought to the attention of or are thought of by the driver. In the past, for recording such items for future reference, a vehicle operator may have carried a memo pad which can be attached to the dashboard and removed for jotting down such items. In some instances, armrest consoles may include built-in memo pads or writing surfaces for listing such items. U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,229 discloses a visor mounted telephone and an analog tape answering and recording machine. Such a device has the usual complicated controls associated with an analog recorder and does not allow random access to a recorded message.
Recently, portable digital recording devices have become available for recording short messages, such as reminder memos to one's self, and can be conveniently carried in a pocket of the user. Although such devices provide a useful function, they can easily be left behind in pockets of clothing not worn or set aside and left in the office or home. Further, they do not allow for random access to any desired message. Also, with traffic increasing and highway speeds rising, fumbling with a pen, paper, or loose communication device can be dangerous.
Furthermore, memo recorders do not provide a user with a convenient way to transfer the recordings to various other devices. Memo recorders do not provide removable memory modules, nor do they allow for the removal, replacement, and interchange of memory modules with the memo recorder. A user may desire to remove or interchange a memory module for use with other devices such as desktop computers, recorders, etc.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a digital memo recorder having a removable memory unit. It would further be advantageous to provide a digital memo recorder which would provide removable memory modules, as well as facilitate the insertion, removal, replacement, and interchangeability of memory modules. It would further be advantageous to provide a digital memo recorder providing an occupant of a vehicle interior with easy and convenient use of the digital memo recorder.
The teachings herein extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned needs.